Ah,
sleep.Yes, sleep.Despite our myriad cultures, beliefs and
perspectives we can all agree that sleep is both a valuable and often scarce
resource.As the Dalai Lama proclaimed,
“Sleep is the best meditation.”

Editor's love note: Oh dearest sleep, my capricious paramour.Quiet that damned alarm and spare me a moment
more.Here and gone within a deep
soporific kiss.Our time together clips
by in the (literal) blink of an eye.

Welcome the pillow that welcomes us into
sleep, the comfort of the couch, or simply a place called home.The dialog between person and pillow is
intimate, easing the tired mind and sparking new dreams.Not to mention that whole other kind
of "pillow talk".

Pillow whisperer Alexandra Ferguson has
crafted a design company around this conversation; finally, giving them their
voice.

Alexandra:

I was, fortunately, born into design.My mom's background was in fashion design and
pattern making in the UK where she grew up.Although she had left the industry when she married my father and moved
to the US, having babies was a great excuse to pull out the sewing machine
again.Our house was always a den of
creativity and craft making- from the kitchen to the closet to decorating our
homes - she is an enviable Martha Stewart protégé.

During my rebellious teens, I spurned the sewing machine and became drawn to
industrial design.I was dying to design
cars and then became interested in photography later on in college, with dreams
to become a war photographer for the NY Times.Lo and behold, I needed a job right out of college and happened to land instead
in the fashion industry.It satisfied
basic creative criteria, so I went for it.

Next thing you know, I'm running sample rooms,
standing over patternmaker's shoulders and managing fittings.At twenty-five, I realized that I had
unwittingly followed in my mother's footsteps after all.Not one to go halfway, it wasn't long before
I purchased a sewing machine and began seasonal crafting projects.One of those evolved into my company.

I
launched my company on Etsy.com with
only $1.60 for a few postings while eating a roast beef sandwich at my desk
during my lunch break.I didn't imagine
that much would come out of it.All I
knew is that these pillows I made over the holidays for friends and family were
well received, so I might as well give it a shot.In the beginning, there was no business plan
or vision outside of a few posts.I
consider myself an "accidental entrepreneur."

The product is simple: pillows that include sayings that connect to our
consumers in different ways. The sayings are meant to inspire, relax, remind,
and sometimes, make laugh.The best
sellers focus on what it means to be at home and create a sense of calmness in
the midst of the chaos of life or brighten up a room with humor.

Once sales began to increase
consistently, and the product started garnering media attention, I decided to
take the leap and have dedicated the last five-and-half years to really driving
it.The most challenging part is usually
cash flow and managing operations.Also,
keeping promotional buzz going, costs down, a healthy profit (we've averaged
40-60% growth year over year), our manufacturing capacity ahead of orders, and
our cash ahead of the bills is quite a balancing act.Thankfully, I have tons of encouraging
pillows to return home to after a long day’s work!

I think
what inspires our customers is the clean way we message.Our design language is clear and simple.So, designing a new product at this point is
just about sampling a new phrase.I
don't wait for any market events to time my product launches.As soon as I think up the idea, I write it up
onto a work order which goes through production, photography, and then launches
right away.For new
silhouettes, like the tote bags we launched this Fall, I rely on my head sewer
who doubles as our patternmaker.We work
closely to make a few "protos" (prototypes).She gets angry with herself if she doesn't
nail it on the first try, but it's never a problem since any extra prototypes
go to great use as testing samples.

I often snap some iPhone photos of the new design and email blast it to our
customers to get feedback.Our customers
are great at giving us feedback as far as what's working and what's not.We also do a ton of custom work, so if it's
not something that we offer in our catalog, we can still make it specifically
for a customer.All of these value-added
options are part of the advantages of being able to control our factory.We've designed our space to be efficient and
nimble so we can react on a dime.

I approach marketing with different strategies
for social media, print media, and word of mouth.But in the end, the quality and customer
service makes the most impact.I love Instagram -
that's my favorite (@alexandrafergusonllc). Most of our marketing focuses
on wholesale trade shows: NY Now and Atlanta Americasmart.We have benefited from good press including a pillow that
lives on the set of The Today Show
("I Love this Place" pillow in the Orange Room) and several that live
in Shoshanna's room in HBO’s Girls.We have also been covered in dozens of major
magazines including Vanity Fair, Cosmo, House Beautiful, Real Simple,
Shape, and Fitness.Glamour even featured me once!And now, the amazing Bloated Hippo Magazine!

So, what's next?We are taking it year
by year.The next twelve months for us
will be all about settling into our skin, especially with this past year of
wild growth and change.We just moved
into our factory space last summer to meet the scale-up of business and are
focusing now on efficiencies and continuing to target and support our network
of over six hundred independent retailers that carry our line.

After that? We'll see. My mom is pushing to enter the European market,
mostly because she wants to go to Paris twice a year for the Maison & Objet show.That sounds pretty good to me and hopefully
we can make that happen in 2016.Our
company focuses on the consumer, so we'll go wherever we need to go to connect
to them, continue the conversation, and find new inspirations.